Rays 3B Evan Longoria watched via FaceTime on his phone from the Tokyo Dome on Saturday as fiancee Jaime Edmondson delivered a healthy baby boy in Arizona. Then in Sunday’s game, he celebrated by hitting a home run, as the MLB team won 6-1 . . .

. . . Longoria went on the tour knowing it was a possibility he would miss the birth of their second child, as Edmondson was due Nov. 18, but said she was okay with that.

I’m probably the last guy who can offer advice on what makes a lasting and fulfilling relationship, but I sorta feel like my marriage would’ve ended way sooner than it did if I had decided to take a fully voluntary business trip when my kids were due to be born. Even if my wife did say she was okay with that.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher has reversed course and will continue to pay minor leaguers. Fisher tells Slusser, “I concluded I made a mistake.” He said he is also setting up an assistance fund for furloughed employees.

The A’s decided in late May to stop paying paying minor leaguers as of June 1, which was the earliest date on which any club could do so after an MLB-wide agreement to pay minor leaguers through May 31 expired. In the event, the A’s were the only team to stop paying the $400/week stipends to players before the end of June. Some teams, notable the Royals and Twins, promised to keep the payments up through August 31, which is when the minor league season would’ve ended. The Washington Nationals decided to lop off $100 of the stipends last week but, after a day’s worth of blowback from the media and fans, reversed course themselves.

An @sfchronicle exclusive: A's owner John Fisher reverses course, apologizes: team will pay minor-leaguers; "I concluded I made a mistake," he tells me. He's also setting up an assistance fund for furloughed employees: https://t.co/8HUBkFAaBx)